Chromatic mouthorgan



March 25, 1958 H. BIBUS 2,327,818

CHROMATIC MOUTHQRGAN I Filed Nov. 5, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet '1 INVENTORHANS BIBU S March 25, 1958 H. BIBUS CHROMATIC MOUTHORGAN 4 Sheets-Sheet2 Filed Nov. 5, 1948 INVENTOR HANS BIBUS BY M March 25, 1958 H. BIBUSCHROMATIC MOUTHORGAN 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Nov. 5, 1948 March 25, 1958H. BIBUS 2,827,818

CHROMATIC MOUTHORGAN Filed Nov. 5, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 F IG.|O FIGQHmvsm on HANS BIBUS United States Patent CHROMATIC MOUTHORGAN Hans Bibus,Zollikon-Zurich, Switzerland Application November 5, 1948, Serial No.58,583

Claims priority, application Switzerland November 5, 1947 9 Claims. (Cl.84 -377) The present invention relates to mouth organs or harmonicas,and more particularly to chromatic mouth organs or harmonicas.

The general object of the present invention is to provide a mouth organwhich in harmonical regard makes possible an unlimited application sothat it permits faithful and correct musical renditions to be made.

Accordingly, the instrument is constructed pursuant to the presentinvention so as to make possible not only the rendering of each tone ofthe chromatic scale individually, but also in conjunction with any othertones as chords; in other words, each melody tone can be accompanied byany desired chord, and in any desired key. Furthermore, this instrumentis so constructed that it may be played by exhaling or by inhaling andallows the formation of chords of a tone range of at least one octave.

The realization of an instrument having these properties presents twomajor problems: First, the mechanism controlling the air flow must allowthe choice of each single tone individually, or its combination withother tones of the same octave into a chord; on the other hand, thereeds necessary for playing the twelve tones of an octave by exhalingand inhaling must be spatially so compact that their air channels liewithin the reach of the mouth.

As explained in the following description of. different embodiments ofthe invention, the simultaneous solution of these basic problems of theinvention has been achieved by a novel arrangement of the reeds andcontrol of their cells.

In the mouth organ according to the present invention, each two reedsare arranged one behind the other in a common reed cell, which iscontrolled independently of the other cells of the same octave.

The accompanying drawings illustrate two examples of the construction ofa mouth organ according to the present invention. In said drawings,

Fig. l is a cross section through one constructional embodiment;

Figs. 2 to 6 illustrate a complete constructional example of aninstrument according to the present invention,

Fig. 2 being a plan view of the mouth organ with a part of the casingbroken away,

Fig. 3 a transverse section along line IIIIII of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 a transverse section along the line IV-IV of Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 a perspective view of a control element as used in thisconstructional example, and

Fig. 6 a diagram of the wire connections for the operating mechanism ofpart A according to Fig. 2;

Fig, 7 is a longitudinal section along the line VII-VII of Fig. 1showing the tone structure of an instrument tuned on the same tone;

Fig; 8 is a cross section through a mouth organ embodying a secondconstructional example;

Fig. 9 shows a longitudinal section along the line IXIX of Fig. 8;

Figs. 10 and 11 illustrate two diagrams of tone structure forinstruments not tuned on the sametone; and

2,827,818 Patented Mar. 25, 1958 Fig. 12 shows an example of the wiringof a chord key.

In all figures of the drawing, 1 stands for the air channel's, 2 for themouth piece, 3 for the reed plates and 4 and 5 for the upper and lowerreed cells, respectively, while 7 stands for the central dividing wallor plate.

The instrument shown by way of example has 25 air channels 1 in mouthpiece 2, and 25 each of upper and lower reed cells 4 and 5. These reedcells are controlled by the upper and lower slide valves 13 and 14 whichcooperate with the air channels 1 of the mouth piece 2 and apertures 15of central plate 7 arranged between the reed cells. In Fig. 3 theseslide valves are in their position of rest, pressed against mouth piece2 by springs 16 which are arranged between the gasket 10 and the springsupport 21. The wires 19 which are fastened to the slide valves are ledthrough the springs 16, spring support 21 and bores 23 in levers 22 andconnected with the levers by means of driving elements or stops 24 (seeFig. 5). Keys 25 and 26 are fastened to shafts 29 by means of swinginglevers 27 and 28 in such a way that of each pair of swing leverscarrying a key, one lever 27 is fixed to one shaft 29 whilst the otherlever 28 rests rotatably on the opposite shaft 29.

Fig. 4 shows that by pressing down a key 25 an upper shaft is turnedcounterclockwise, while by pressing down a key 26 a lower shaft 29 isturned clockwise. The shafts 29 are arranged parallel to each otherbetween the keys, andare journalled in borings of the instrument frame30 and the stiffening member 31. Besides bearing the keys 25, 26, theshafts 29 serve to move simultaneously all slide valves spaced by oneoctave, and therefore carry levers 22 which are secured at intervals ofan octave from each other, the draw wires 19 running through the bores23 of the levers. Fig. 4 shows a key 26 in depressed position;accordingly, the associated shaft 29' appears in a rotated position andthe upper slide valve 13 is shifted to the rear position by lever 22 anddraw wire 19'.

The instrument in question has 25 sets of two pairs of reeds disposedone above the other, i. e. a total of reeds. These reeds are so tunedthat the tone intervals between each reed and its upper reed is alwayshalf a tone, while the interval between two reeds lying side by side isalways a full tone. Fig. 7 shows this tuning system; the two-way reedsof the upper reed plate 3 are tuned to one whole-tone scale C D EF-sharp G-sharp A-sharp; while the reeds of the lower-reed plate aretuned to the whole-tone scale C-sharp D-sharp F G A H. The reeds of eachcell arranged one behind the. other, of which one responds to blowingand the other to drawing, are tuned to the same tone. All twelve tonesof an octave may therefore be played both on blowing and on drawing. Foreach octave there are required six ducts with 24 reeds, the total tonerange of the instrument thus being four octaves and a half-tone.

Analogously to the chromatic tuning of the reeds the keyboard has alsobeen chromatically arranged. Since the slide valves of all identicaltones of the four octaves are coupled by the shafts 29 and therefore canbe operated by the same key, 12 keys would generally be SUfilClEIlt, i.e. one for each half tone of an octave. To render fluent playing easier,particularly the playing of chords, the keys operating the twelve toneshave been repeated and arranged in such a way that the distance betweenany two of the keys in any given direction always corresponds to thesame tone interval. The designation of the keys in Fig. 2 shows that theinterval in direction a always amounts to half a tone, in direction bthree half-tones and in direction 0 four half-tones. This arrangementhas the great advantage that each touch corresponds to a definite chord;the same touch applied on various points of the keyboard produces thesame chord in different keys.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing which slide valves, draw wires, levers,shafts and keys are interconnected. Each of these elements of themechanism is marked with the associated blow tones; the two shafts 29arranged one above the other, as e. g. H and E and valves 13 and id areshown in this diagram side by side. The connections between the shaftsand the draw wires and represented by black dots are so constructed thatthe draw wire 19 is carried along by the lever by means of driving ball24, but not vice versa. The circled dots, on the other hand, representconnections whereby the draw wire 1% which passes through thee bore 23carries a driving ball 24 at each side of the lever 22 so that the drawwire is carried along by the lever, and also the lever by the draw wire.If, for instance, the G-sharp key 26 is depressed. the G-sharp shaft 2?is rotated by the swing lever 27', the draw wire 19' is carried along bythe lever 22 and the shaft 29" rotated by the lever 22. The four levers22' arrange on the G-sharp shaft 29" thereby draw all four G-sharpslides 13 (one in each octave) by way of wire 19 into the fear position.If, on the other hand, the G-sharp key 26" is depressed, only theG-sharp shaft 29" is rotated and also all four G-sharp slides shifted;however, the G-sharp shafts 2.9 and 29" remain unturned, because thedraw wire 19' moves through the bores of the levers 22' and 22" withoutbecoming coupled thereto. Fig. 6 shows only the wire connections of theright half of the in strument shown at A in Fig. 2; the wiring of theleft half is arranged analogously.

The above described instrument represents merely one example of thepractical application of the inventive idea. Without deviatingtherefrom, the relative position of the upper and lower reed cells aswell as the manner of controlling the same may be varied. So, forinstance, Figs. 8 and 9 show an embodiment in which the upper and lowerreed cells are displaced against each other by half a tone. According toFig. 8, the reed cell member 7 lying between the reed plates 3 extendsup to the rim of the mouthpiece, so that each cell has its own duct.Thereby it becomes possible to separate with the mouth the half-toneintervals occurring in a chord. The individual control of each cell iseffected in this embodiment by clack valves 6 behind, and not in frontof, the reeds.

The turning system as shown in Fig. 7, according to which the same tonesare produced both on blowing and drawing, may also be changed. Figs. and11 show two examples of the tuning of the reeds, whereby the played toneor chord becomes lower by a half-tone, or higher by a full tone, if thedirection of the air flow is changed.

The key mechanism of the reeds also represents only one example ofpractical application of the invention, I

which may be varied or amplified in different ways. For instance, it ispossible also to fit the instrument with chord keys instead of only withsingle-tone keys, as above described, so that to play the mostfrequently employed chords, it is not necessary to depress whole groupsof keys, but only single chord keys, thus considerably simplifying theplaying of the instrument. This possibility, when applied to theabove-described instrument, does not require constructional changes ofany kind. Only the wire connections of the levers belonging to the chordkeys areditferent from those belonging to the single tone keys, whileall shafts and their connections with the slide valves may remain thesame.

Fig. 12 shows by way of example the wire connections for the key Cassociated with the diminished seventh chord of the key of C. Both swinglevers 32 and 33 carrying this key are rotatably mounted on the D-sharpand G-sharp shafts. The upper swing lever 32 simultaneousy acts as adraw lever for the draw wire 34 disposed on the central plane of theinstrument, and draw wire 34 in turn carries along levers 35 disposed onthe shafts A, C, D-sharp and F-sharp, thereby rotating the said fourshafts.

Consequently, all A, C, D-sharp and F-sharp slide valves aresimultaneously shifted when the C key is 4 depressed, so that the Cchord can be played in every key of the instrument on exhaling. Thelevers 22 and draw wires 1 are indicated in Fig. 12 by dots, since theyare disposed in the plane of the associated slide valves and not in theplane of the section.

I claim:

1. Chromatic mouth organ comprising groups of pairs of reeds, meansdefining reed cells in which the reeds are disposed, the reeds of eachpair being arranged one behind the other in a common reed cell, meansfor controlling each reed cell independently of the other reed cells ofthe same octave, a plurality of keys, each individual control meansbeing connected with a key and being actuated thereby, and a springarranged between the control means and its key and operative to returnthe control means to its initial posiiton.

2. Chromatic mouth organ having a mouthpiece along which the mouth isadapted to slide and extending'for substantially the width of theinstrument, said mouth organ including groups of pairs of reedsencompassing a plurality of octaves, means defining reed cells in whichthe reeds are disposed, the reeds of each pair being mounted foroperation one by exhaled and the other by inhaled air, and beingarranged one behind the other in a common reed cell in the direction ofhow of the air through the cell and transversely to the direction of themouthpiece, means for controlling the flow of air to and from each reedcell independently of the other reed cells of the same octave, and aplurality of keys, each individual control means being connected with akey and being actuated thereby, and a continuous shaft between thecontrol means and its key, said shaft coupling a plurality of controlmeans which are spaced by one octave, said continuous shaft carrying thesaid keys.

3. Chromatic mouth organ according to claim 1, said control meansincluding slide valves.

4. Chromatic mouth organ according to claim 3, said slide valves beingrespectively arranged in the cells themselves and being movablelongitudinally of the cells.

5. Chromatic mouth organ according to claim 4-, said reed cells definingmeans being provided with apertures through which air flows, thelongitudinally moving slide valves cooperating with said apertures.

6. Chromatic mouth organ according to claim 1, said keys being arrangedin rows and being so connected with each individual control means thatthe distance between any two keys in a given direction corresponds tothe same tone interval.

7. Chromatic mouth organ according to claim 6, the keys being soarranged that the tone interval between two keys in one directionamounts to a half-tone, in a econd direction to three half-tones and ina third direction to four half-tones.

8. Chromatic mouth organ according to claim 1, said pairs of reeds beingdisposed one above the other, said reeds being so tuned, that the toneinterval between each reed and its co-ordinated upper reed alwaysamounts to a half-tone, while the tone interval between two reedsdisposed one beside the other always amounts to a full tone, so thatadjacent reeds correspond to a full-tone scale.

9. A chromatic mouth organ having a mouthpiece along which the mouth isadapted to slide and extending for substantially the width of theinstrument, said mouth organ comprising a plurality of reed cells, saidreed cells having valve openings therein, groups of pairs of reedsencompassing a plurality of octaves, said groups of pairs of reeds beingdisposed in said cells, one of the reeds of each pair of reeds beingmounted for operation by exhaled air and the other reed of each pair ofreeds being mounted for operation by inhaled air, the reeds of each pairof reeds being arranged one behind the other in a common reed cell ofsaid plurality of cells in the direction of flow .of air through saidcell and transversely to the direction of said mouthpiece, clack valvesfor controlling the fiow of air to and from each reed cell independentlyof the other reed cells of the same octave, said clack valves beingdisposed behind said reed cells and being movable to open and close saidvalve openings, a plurality of keys, each of said clack valves being 5connected with one of said keys, and a spring arranged between each ofsaid clack valves and the one of said keys associated therewith toreturn said clack valves to initial position after actuation and releaseof said keys.

References Cited in the file of this patent 10 UNITED STATES PATENTS 6Hill June 20, 1911 Dusinberre Dec. 9, 1924 Hostetter Nov. 12, 1929Lederfine Jan. 7, 1941 Magnus May 16, 1944 Magnus Sept. 11, 1945 BorelFeb. 15, 1949 Bibus Aug. 16, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Dec. 19, 1922Great Britain of 1925 Great Britain June 17, 1926 Switzerland of 1936Switzerland Mar. 16, 1944

